Easy Oven Baked Chinese Sweet and Sour Pork
Try this Easy Oven Baked Chinese Sweet and Sour Pork recipe, or contribute your own.
Try this Easy Oven Baked Chinese Sweet and Sour Pork recipe, or contribute your own.
- Carbohydrate 9.52704481680797 g
- Cholesterol 161.02529135 mg
- Fat 40.876288754183 g
- Fiber 0.134745487671346 g
- Protein 39.7759771000665 g
- Saturated Fat 14.1625464819743 g
- Serving Size 1 1 Serving (275g)
- Sodium 7593.04134877857 mg
- Sugar 9.39229932913663 g
- Trans Fat 4.14993397115427 g
- Calories 575 calories
Step-by-step
- Preheat your oven to 450ºF and season your pork with salt and pepper.
- Transfer your pork to a plastic bag or ziploc bag along with 1 tablespoon of cornstarch. Shake well until the pork is lightly coated and then place on an oiled tray in a foil lined baking sheet.
- Bake your pork for 40 minutes, flipping once after 20 minutes.
- While the pork is baking, add the remaining 1 tablespoon of cornstarch to 1 tablespoon of water in a cup and stir until a smooth slurry forms.
- Make your sauce by adding sugar, ketchup, vinegar, soy sauce, corn starch slurry, and 1/4 cup of water to a pan and bringing it to a boil. Once boiling, turn the heat to low and add your vegetables. Cook until your desired doneness and then remove from heat (for us that means almost raw).
- Add your pork to the sauce and toss until well coated. Enjoy!
Ketchup drives the flavor profile of this dish by delivering concentrated tomato paste alongside acetic acid, which cuts through the heavy fat content of the pork shoulder. Without that manufactured acidity, the quarter cup of sugar would overwhelm the palate entirely. Balancing this sauce requires precise measurement so the tomato solids do not scorch when the mixture reaches a boil in the pan.
Achieving crisp exterior textures without deep frying demands proper thermal contact on the baking sheet. Line your metal tray with heavy-duty aluminum foil and oil it generously before laying out the cornstarch-dusted meat cubes. Standard parchment paper will stick and tear under the required 450 degree Fahrenheit heat, ruining the crust.
Flip the pork pieces exactly at the twenty-minute mark to ensure even rendering of the intramuscular fat over the total forty-minute cooking duration. Letting the pork roast undisturbed for the first half creates a stable protein crust that prevents the meat from drying out inside the oven. Watch for the edges to turn deeply golden before removing the tray from the heat source.
Stir the remaining cornstarch with cold water in a separate cup to eliminate lumps before introducing it to the simmering pan liquids. Starch granules must hydrate fully before heat gelatinizes them, or the final sauce will remain thin and watery instead of clinging uniformly to the baked pork and crunchy vegetables.
